Tuesday, 30 December 2014

On of those quite nights at the club in the lull between Xmas and the New Year. So Craig brought some boardgames along and the winner was Formule De, in it's Formula D incarnation. Two one lap races with seven drivers and plenty of wreckage. Both races on proper tracks and helmeted drivers rather than the chavy street racing option.

Tuesday, 2 September 2014

Another trial of the Skirmish rules after last weeks first run through.

Once again a 'find the lady' scenario, but with the British defending a village and the French assaulting.

The hiding place of the Lady was chosen so as to only have one way in or out. With an internal barricade and Harper with his volley gun at the ready, any Frenchman trying to seize her would be in for some unpleasantness.

French moved in from one side in a two pronged attack. This forced the Riflemen to rush across the village to help out the regulars holding two of the buildings on that side.

A couple of shots from the upper windows of hard-point took down a Frenchman who had previously survived a volley from three others.

After a couple of bad turns of melee, that saw the regulars forced away from the walls they were defending, it looked like the British had chance for revenge. The Riflemen could now pile in and change the odds, bashing the French back in what was the last act of the game.
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Tuesday, 26 August 2014

It's nearing dawn in a Spanish village, and the French commander is interrogating a young lady, believed to be a spy for the nearby British. Little are they both aware of a daring rescue attempt being orchestrated outside by a certain Captain Sharpe.

Terrain, figures and rules supplied by Matt, who has spun off these rules from his home-brew Napoleonic big battle rules so that he can make use of his singly based skirmisher figures. Tel leading the British as Tony plays the defenders.

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

A 1940 scenario, with the familiar story of a German assault to try a split the French and British lines. Tony and Tel are the Germans, Jim is the defending British, with Mark as B.E.F. reinforcements and Matt as the French.

Played out at 6mm and using the hex based system as devised by Dave M. This was used extensively in the past, but long enough ago so that everybody had by now forgotten how to play. In these homebrew rules units are rarely lost forever, but it takes time to regroup and at 1/3rd losses no offensive actions can be taken till back up to strength.

Tuesday, 5 August 2014

A siege scenario as the British and their Sepoys try to force their way into a city before native reinforcements can turn up. Most of the game consisted of bombardment and digging defences. Jim as the defenders, Tel as the attackers.

After a period of battery on battery artillery duelling, which eventually forced the Indian heavy guns off the wall, the building of the siege lines outside the city began in earnest, with the first line constructed just within range of the walls as the British attempt to create a breach.

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

The 'Road to Waterloo' rules get a reprise and numerous modifications for use in the Indian theatre where numerous British Generals (and fictional Riflemen) cut their teeth.

In this trial run a small force of elite British, Sepoy and the not so elite John Company troops face the more numerous Maratha native forces, with their plentiful supply of Cavalry and explosive things. Matt leading the British while explaining the new rules, with Raja Tel leading the natives, assisted by Jim on the right and Tony on the left. Figures from Jim (Natives) and Matt (British).

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Everybody presumed that somebody else would bring a game along but naturally nobody actually did soo in the end we played Lord of the Rings Risk, as supplied by Tony after a quick dash home.

Nominally good vs evil but basically a free for all. The map differed from the traditional Tolkien maps in that there were big gaps in the mountain ranges, presumably so that the armies had a bit more freedom of movement.

And large armies certainly ended up marching from one end of Northwestern Middle-Earth to another. Since Matt was the only other person to have played this version, and Tony sat out, he ran away with the game as he understood the victory conditions.
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Wednesday, 25 June 2014

Finally got round to using my 15mm Abyssinian and Italian figures once again after a long absence. A game of Principles of War, my colonial rules of choice.

This scenario is based on a reported incident that never actually happened but still made the press. It's January 1896 during the siege of Makalle\Mek'ele. The capital of Tigre is once more in the hands of the forces of Emperor Menelik, but with the minor wrinkle that there is a unit of Italian lead Askari that are holding up in the fort, on the heights of Enda Yesus, that overlooks the city.

Monday, 16 June 2014

This Saturday I once more undertook the annual pilgrimage to St Helens and the Phalanx Show, the North-West premier (i.e. only) wargames convention. Meeting up down there with the other members of the Furness Wargamers, who had made their own way down.

This year Martin was putting on a demonstration game on the Clubs behalf. This was 'The Battle of Lake Erie', from the War of 1812. All boats are paper models painstakingly constructed by Martin himself.

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

A cooperative skirmish game as 5 survivors try to scavenge some supplies from a Zombie infested town. Using the free Twilight World rules, that, despite the name, has nothing to do with Sparkly Vampires or Swing Out Sister.

Majority of the terrain and all the figures supplied by Dave M. Mini's are a mixture of plastics but include a lot of Wargames Factory's Dark Futures line of Zombies and Survivors. (The disembodied hand on the photo below is not part of the game.)

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

The final test of Matt's Frankenstein style home-brew rules, before their first big outing at the much delayed St George's Day game.

A small affair between the French and the Spanish, who were instructed to hold a built up area. The Spanish had the much larger force but was up against good quality French, including four high quality Guard Cavalry units.

Monday, 5 May 2014

Due to the weather being of typical Bank Holiday quality I stayed indoors and put together a couple of 4Ground models of New England pioneer/settler building for use in any F.I.W. games.

The models in question were the Pioneer's Log Cabin (28S-AML-101) and the more complex two tiered Settler's Lofted Log Cabin (28S-AML-106)

I had bought these at Fiasco last year and had previously tried to piece one together without gluing the main body of it, as the pieces are a snug fit anyway. This time I got the PVA out to stick them together as per the instructions and gluing is essential for the more finer bits, such as the door frames and windows.

Only real tweak I did to them was to dab a bit of paint on the ends of the joints on the roofing to tone down the dark caused by the laser cut. I also had to do some minor shaving of some of the outer timber effects to get them to fit into their holes snugly without much visible gaps. Happy with the final results, but the smell of the laser burnt MDF doesn't half linger.

Since the weather didn't get any better I then moved on to painting my set of Wilderness Force Rangers and Indians, from North Star, that I had previously started over the new year holidays. Having gained access to the table again and some natural (if dull) light, I've managed to see some further progress, and might even get a second batch started soon.
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Saturday, 3 May 2014

Recently sought out the 'In Her Majesty's Name' rules and 'Heroes, Villains and Fiends' companion book after hearing Mark and Matt talking about them as a possible future project. Written by Craig Cartmell and Charles Murton and released by Osprey. I sourced the books as electronic downloads from Amazon, in Kindle format, and coming in at around the £10 mark which is about the same cost as a single pdf\ePub format copy from the Osprey site.

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

The Spartans incursion into Lycia provokes a response from the aggrieved neutrals, while the Cadians return to defend their borders. Meanwhile the Ionians and Persians raid into each others lands to try and gain enough loot to bring in reinforcements after both taking heavy losses in last weeks battle.

Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Another play test of the 'fast-play' rules for next years Waterloo game, as the rules finally settle down after about five iterations. Again it is an hold the village scenario, set in the Peninsular (Iberian, not Furness)

Two brigades of British and Portuguese, lead by Tel, plus some Heavy Cavalry and Guns, defending against the massed forces of the Matt's French.

Tuesday, 8 April 2014

A trial game, organised by Dave M, of a set of DBA derived rules for the Great War, and based on an existing one found online for the Chaco War, but tweaked for the earlier era.

Set in the Middle East, between the Ottomans, lead by Tel and Mark, and a force of Australians and Indians, lead by Matt and Jim. Ottomans are defending with a number of their starting AP's being randomly determined to be defensive positions, either dugouts or barbed wire.

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

The campaign concludes with another Round of map moves and one final battle.

The Blemmy spend a D6 of their victory points, costing five in total, to invite their cousins over to form another army. The new force, after a brief journey, also camps on the Nile. Memphis is now surrounded by the Blemmy both north and south.

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Another test game of the proposed 'Waterloo' rules, with the French, consisting of Tel and Tony, assaulting a village defended by the British and Spanish of Martin and Jim. The village spans a river, crossable by troops but with a bridge in place for easier crossing.

Victory conditions are simple... who ever holds the village at the end of the game is the winner.

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

The campaign continues with a few extra wrinkles added to the rules, in order to increase Blemmy and Boukoloi participation. They can now get Victory Points by raiding the four Nile squares south of the Delta. Plus siege rules added so that the three cities are now vulnerable even with garrisons in place.

All the current activity appears to be around the western side of the Delta, apart from the Blemmyes who are east of Memphis. Slaves are besieging Alexandria, meanwhile the Sassinids had mistaken their position and attacked the Romans who were hiding in the Delta instead.

Romans need to defeat Sassinids but retain Alexandria, Sassanid need to defeat everybody and protect convoy from Pelusium. Blemmys and Boukoloi both need to capture\loot Memphis or the other cities, plus attack the convoy.

Wednesday, 8 January 2014

Internal strife in Persia as the army of The Great King, King of Kings fights the forces of the Great King, King of Kings to find out who really is the Great King, King of Kings. Played with Basic Impetus, currently the Ancient rules of choice, with three players each side and the initial forces determined at random.

The forces of the True King, Tel, ended up as primarily Infantry - Militia and Bows, with only his personal bodyguard and Matt's light Cavalry being mounted. The Pretender Tony's forces were all mounted including a force of Elephants commanded by Jim, and some heavy Cavalry commanded by Dave M.